


A Fisherman and a Merman

by dancey94



Series: Dancelyn's Tales [2]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Cannibalism, Fairy Tale Style, Hannibal is a Cannibal, Kinda, M/M, Mermen, merman!will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-03 16:12:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13999815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancey94/pseuds/dancey94
Summary: Once upon a time, there was a fisherman who lived in a small hut on the coastline. One morning he discovered that the sea had beached a merman. The fisherman took care of the merman and taught him how to fish. The merman, in turn, offered the fisherman a new life.





	A Fisherman and a Merman

**Author's Note:**

> this is definitely worse then the last one, sorry, but i hope it's readable anyway -__-

Once upon a time, there was a fisherman who lived in a small hut on the coastline. Every morning, he would sink his hook in the sea water, hoping to catch something to eat. The fisherman was poor; he lived a modest but satisfactory life. As long as he had a roof over his head and something to eat, he was happy.

One morning, as the fisherman approached the shore, he noticed a big pile on the beach. The fisherman dropped his rod and jumped over to see what the sea had beached. As he got closer and closer, he noticed that the pile had a human shape. The fisherman knelt by the body and spotted marks of biting on the person’s right shoulder. The blood was trickling down the person’s arm and chest, and it was soaking in the sand.

The fisherman pulled the body by its arm to turn it on its back. It was definitely a man’s body: the broad shoulders, the sharp features of the face, the flat but wide and well-built chest were the tell-tale signs.

The fisherman leant by the man’s mouth to hear and feel if he was breathing. When he made sure the man was still alive, the fisherman was determined to take care of him. Surely, the man must have been a part of a crew and the ship must have sunk.

As the fisherman stood up, he had a closer look at the body on the sand. It was a man, naturally, but only from the waist up. Only now did the fisherman notice a long tail that must have been curled up and which was now freely spread on the sand.

“A merman!” the fisherman exclaimed and took a step back in fear of what the creature might do once awoken.

The fisherman did not know much about mermen but he knew a lot about fish and knew that if you took a fish out of the water, it died. So the fisherman grabbed the merman’s tail and pulled it until he was ankles deep in the water. When he put down the tail, the lower half of the merman was in the water and the upper half was lying on the sand.

The fisherman ran to his hut for some supplies. He cleaned the merman’s wound and wrapped his arm in bandages. Then, the fisherman brought some food and waited on the beach for the merman to wake.

When the merman came to, he noticed the fisherman by his side.

“Who are you?” the merman asked as he looked at his arm that had been carefully tended to.

“My name is Hannibal. I’m a fisherman. I live in that hut,” the fisherman pointed the small hut on the coast.

“You saved my life, Hannibal. You took care of me.”

The fisherman nodded modestly and offered the merman some food.

“I can repay you by catching the fish for you,” the merman proposed but the fisherman shook his head.

“I fish to have something to eat and something to do. What would I do in life if I didn’t have to fish?”

The merman frowned. “You could do other things.”

“But I’ve been fishing my entire life. I don’t know who I’d be without that.”

The merman ate what the fisherman offered him in silence. The entire day passed and with the sun setting, the merman made another offer. “You live all by yourself. Don’t you ever feel lonely? I could keep you company when you fish.”

To that, the fisherman agreed. The merman emerged from the water every morning and disappeared by sunset. Hannibal taught the merman what lures to use and how to make them. Full of gratitude, the merman made a bunch of lures and gave them to Hannibal as a gift. “My name is Will. Whenever you need help, run to the sea and call out my name.”

One morning, the merman did not emerge from the water. Hannibal thought that their agreement reached its end and the merman no longer felt indebted. The next day, the merman did not appear, either. Over a week had passed before Hannibal found another wounded merman on the beach, and Will lying near him.

“He did this to me,” Will said, pointing the familiar scars on his arm and shoulder.

“Are you safe now?” Hannibal asked after checking that the other merman was dead.

Will nodded. He said he’d visit Hannibal the next day and they could continue fishing together. Then, he left.

The next day, Will noticed that Hannibal did not focus so much on fishing and by the end of the day, he hadn’t caught any fish.

“Don’t you need food?” Will asked.

“Oh, I have plenty.”

Will realised what that meant and nodded in silence. “Was he any good?”

“Do you want a taste?”

The fisherman brought a plate with a dish he’d made out of Will’s prey. They shared the meal and then sat in silence as the sun set.

“Swim with me,” Will said and held out a hand for the fisherman to take. Hannibal hesitated but eventually accepted Will's hand. When his feet entered the sea, they turned crimson. The farther the fisherman went, the higher the level of water, the more his legs resembled a tail. When he dived into the water, he shook off his shirt and gaped at his tail.

Will swam up to him with a smile. “You and I are just alike.”

Hannibal reached out for Will and realised he could breathe underwater. His eyes did not sting, he was not swallowing the water. He was simply breathing.

“I used to be so lonely. I was always alone.”

“I was as alone as you were. We were both alone without each other.”

Will grabbed Hannibal’s hand and led the way through the sea. Hannibal was yet to discover a whole new world.

**Author's Note:**

> aaaand as i finished it i felt some "shape of water" vibes as well as "H2O" vibes xDDDD anyone else?


End file.
